EU approval brings chemo-free option for previously-treated CLL

1 November 2018

The European Commission (EC) has approved Venclyxto (venetoclax) in combination with MabThera (rituximab) for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients who have received at least one prior therapy.

Venclyxto, which is known as Venclexta in the USA, is a new treatment being developed by US drugmaker AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) and Swiss pharma giant Roche (ROG: SIX), while MabThera is an older cancer drug from Roche that is also branded as Rituxan.

This combination has been approved based on the Phase III study which showed that fixed duration of treatment with the two therapies is well-tolerated and reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 83% compared to bendamustine plus MabThera, a current standard of care.

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